Influenced by astronomy education research, 21st Century Astronomy offers a complete pedagogical and media package that facilitates learning by doing, while the new one-column design makes the Fifth Edition the most accessible introductory text available today.

Students learn astronomy by doing astronomy

The Fifth Edition’s interactive text and media package provides unmatched opportunities for learning by doing. Every chapter opens with a vibrant photo paired with a big picture question written to intrigue students about a phenomena and give them a goal for the reading to follow. New Reading Astronomy News sections provide a newspaper article or press release followed by critical thinking questions that train students to read the news critically and think like scientists. The questions are assignable in SmartWork.

Assignable videos

23 new Astronomy in Action videos created by co-author Stacy Palen can be used as pre-class activities via SmartWork. A mixture of live demos and mini lectures explain key concepts in an understandable and compelling way, and the companion SmartWork questions allow instructors to gauge student comprehension and adjust their lectures as the results suggest.

Extensive interactive text and media package

Exploration Activities at the end of each chapter get students doing science with a paper and pencil activity, or interacting with an AstroTour Animation or Nebraska Simulation. End-of-chapter Using the Web problems ask students to visit a website, collect information, “do” something, and then answer a series of questions. SmartWork provides additional opportunities for students to practice what they learn and instructors to assess their progress and understanding. Learning Astronomy by Doing Astronomy is an activity workbook with 30 in-class collaborative activities. This workbook gives professors field-tested, easy-to-implement student activities to help transform any class size into an interactive environment that will engage students. Pre- and post-quizzes are available as clicker questions, as well as in the Coursepack.

Helps develop scientific literacy

The Fifth Edition is rich with features that help students understand the process of science and become scientifically literate citizens. Each Reading Astronomy News box provides an article or press release accompanied by questions that encourage students to think critically about the science they encounter in the popular media. Unanswered Questions boxes pose questions that have yet to be answered and help students recognize that science is a process; we don’t know everything, and what we do know can change. Process of Science figures illustrate key discoveries, helping students visualize how science is done. Process of Science Guided Inquiry Assignments in SmartWork help students apply the scientific method to important questions in astronomy, challenging them to think like scientists.

SmartWork: Dynamic online assessment with rich answer feedback

SmartWork is a visual, interactive assessment tool that provides students with rich answer feedback and hints that help them understand key concepts, while allowing instructors to track student progress. Pre-built activities and intuitive settings make getting started easy.

New open and accessible one-column design

Every page of the Fifth Edition is open and inviting with a widened trim size and single-column text design, making 21st Century Astronomy the first astronomy textbook to depart from a dense, two-column format.

The best value in introductory astronomy

21st Century Astronomy includes SmartWork, ebook access, and Learning Astronomy by Doing Astronomy, a workbook offering collaborative lecture activities that can be packaged with the text at no additional cost. For the instructor who is no longer interested in a print text, we offer SmartWork (which, if assigned, links out to the enhanced ebook) for less than half the retail price of a conventional text.

Part I Introduction to AstronomyChapter 1. Thinking Like an AstronomerChapter 2. Patterns in the Sky—Motions of Earth and the MoonChapter 3. Motion of Astronomical Bodies Chapter 4. Gravity and Orbits Chapter 5. Light Chapter 6. The Tools of the Astronomer